ELDERCARE

Eldercare is an important issue for many members of today's work
force, and is thus a relevant matter for employers to study as well.
Analysts contend that many businesses lose valuable production from the
estimated 30 percent of working Americans who have to contend with the
needs of elderly parents and other relatives, and they point out that
America's changing demographics are likely to make this an even
more important issue for employers and employees in the coming years.
"Eldercare is the next big wave washing over the workplace,"
wrote Jill Mazullo in
Minneapolis-St. Paul CityBusiness.
"Many workers are faced with taking on caregiving duties for an
aging parent, spouse, or sibling who needs assistance with grocery
shopping, medical visits, bathing, and more. Some caregivers spend upwards
of 20 hours a week with a family member in need. The emotional toll is
difficult to quantify, particularly when care for a loved one with
Alzheimer's disease or dementia is involved. Add that to a
full-time job, and you've got a career crisis in the
making."

Eldercare receives far less publicity than does childcare, another very
important issue to workers. But as Elise Feuerstein Karras noted in
Small Business Reports
, "In many ways, eldercare is more complex than childcare because
it covers such a wide range of needs. Many elderly people need assistance
with routine tasks such as eating, dressing, bathing and obtaining medical
care. But as adults, they also need to pay their bills, access Social
Security benefits and deal with legal matters such as estate planning.
Employees may have to help with these tasks or arrange for others to do
it—sometimes for relatives who live far away." Karras added
that the level of dependency that older relatives have for caregivers also
increases with time, while the opposite is true of childcare. Finally, she
pointed out that caregivers for elderly parents and relatives often have
to tread a fine, and sometimes exhausting line between diplomacy and
control: "The balance of authority between employees and their
parents can make the [eldercare] arrangements awkward. An employee with
children can simply make any necessary arrangements because he or she has
the authority to do so. But the grown son or daughter of an elderly person
must obtain the parent's consent before arranging for care."

IMPACT OF ELDERCARE OBLIGATIONS ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE

In many instances, obligations associated with providing eldercare can
become a considerable drain on an employee's productivity.
According to a 1999 study by the Met Life Mature Market Institute, 16
percent of survey respondents indicated that had to quit their jobs
entirely in order to meet the needs of elderly parents (the percentage is
even greater in businesses that have a high percentage of employees who
are women, society's traditional caregivers). Many other
respondents indicated that they passed up job promotions, training
opportunities, or career-advancing projects because of their caregiving
obligations. When these sorts of situations develop, small business owners
and other employers are faced with the loss or diminished value of a
productive, trained employee and—in cases where those obligations
force a departure—additional costs associated with finding and
training a replacement.

But the obligations associated with eldercare are felt in other ways, too.
Workers who provide assistance to their elderly parents or other relatives
are likely to take off several days each year to attend to routine care
issues. The Met Life survey confirmed this condition, noting that 64
percent of respondents used sick days or vacation time in order to address
eldercare issues. Some employers might comfort themselves by observing
that those vacation days are not unexcused absences, but they should
recognize that losing vacation time for this reason can have a negative
impact on employee morale and, ultimately, performance. Moreover, partial
absenteeism—late arrivals, long lunch breaks, early departures,
etc.—can take a heavy toll as well. But Tibbet L. Speer contended
in
American Demographics
that an even bigger problem for employers are "the workday
interruptions faced by caregivers who talk on the phone with loved ones
and service providers. This situation can arise even with employees who
don't physically care for parents or whose parents live elsewhere.
Estimated at one hour per week per caregiver, this factor is the biggest
drain of all on employee productivity."

SMALL BUSINESS AND ELDERCARE BENEFITS

Many small business owners operate under the assumption that they can
provide little assistance to employees who are grappling with eldercare
issues. In reality, however, business experts say that both small and
large companies can take several relatively inexpensive measures to help
their staffers out and, in the long run, help them reach or return to high
levels of productivity. Indeed, "by helping employees balance work
and family responsibilities, elder care benefits can have a positive
effect on employee attendance and productivity," observed
HR Magazine.
"Elder care benefits also support recruitment and retention
efforts."

Possible eldercare benefits feasible for small businesses include the
following:

Information services
. A very inexpensive way in which employers can help employees with
eldercare problems is to offer resource and referral hotlines for such
services and subjects as adult day care, nursing home evaluation,
insurance issues, and "meals on wheels." Finding such
information can be a time-consuming process for employees, and the
establishment of a small in-house resource center that contains contact
information can save workers significant hassles. In addition, many
resource and referral services offer one-on-one counseling and/or
seminars, many of which can be arranged to take place at the
business's facilities. These seminars and counseling sessions can
provide employees with important information on
such diverse issues as nursing home care, Medicare and Medicaid, legal
issues, and Alzheimer's disease.

Incorporate Into Existing Assistance Programs
. Many companies have chosen to integrate eldercare benefits in with
existing employee assistance plans.

Flexible Work Schedules.
Employers have a variety of options from which to choose here, including
job sharing, compressed work weeks, and work-at-home arrangements. In
addition, some small business owners have loosened vacation and sick day
policies, blending them together into so-called personal days, to better
accommodate employees with eldercare obligations.

Financial Benefits.
Employers should consider setting up dependent care assistance programs
(DCAPs) for their employees. Under this plan, employees who have elderly
dependents living with them can gain assistance in paying for various
eldercare expenses. Funds are regularly withheld from the paychecks of
participating employees, who then bill the plan and receive reimbursements
for eldercare expenses. "The result," noted Karras,
"is that employees don't pay income or Social Security taxes
on the DCAP funds. Your company saves as well because it won't owe
Social Security and unemployment taxes on the money they set
aside." Business consultants note, however, that businesses that
set up DCAP plans do run into administration expenses, whether they choose
to administer the program themselves or hire an outside firm to do so.

INTERGENERATIONAL CARE

Another trend that is shaping the way in which employees and employers
approach eldercare is the increased popularity of intergenerational care
facilities. These programs allow working parents who also have obligations
to care for their own parents to place both children and elderly relatives
in a single facility, where they will be cared for. Given the steady
growth of women in the work place and the success that many hospitals,
child care centers, and nursing homes have had with intergenerational care
programs, many analysts believe that the availability of such facilities
will continue to grow over the next number of years, especially in regions
in which competition for labor talent is intense. Indeed, demographic
trends would seem to guarantee the continued growth of intergenerational
care facilities. A study in the early 1990s by the National Council on
Aging, for example, determined that approximately 40 percent of the
American work force was providing care for both children and elders. Such
statistics indicate that businesses seeking to attract and retain top
talent will not only examine child care assistance options in greater
depth, but will also factor the eldercare issue into their analysis of
options with increasing frequency.

ELDERCARE RESOURCES

Employees and employers can turn to a variety of sources for information
on dealing with the many financial, medical, and personal aspects of
eldercare. Local hospitals, churches, and agencies on aging are often good
sources of information on eldercare issues. In addition, several national
organizations maintain a variety of services and information on the
subject. Notable organizations include the American Association of Retired
Persons, the Alzheimer's Association, and the American Association
of Homes and Services for the Aging. Another good source of information is
the Eldercare Locator, a federally funded hotline operated by the National
Association of State Units on Aging and the National Association of Area
Agencies on Aging.

FURTHER READING:

"Almost Everything You Wanted to Know About Benefits But Were
Afraid to Ask."
HRMagazine.
August 1998.